Hunt or Be Hunted
by Julia Cat
Summary: A dangerous game drops, and a deadly creature lurks within, waiting to hunt down its prey... Currently under revision.
1. The Great Beyond

**Hunt or Be Hunted**  
By Julia Cat 

**Note** This fanfic takes place right after season three, so just forget season four hasn't happened for my purposes. Thanks. ;) Also, this fanfic is under revision, so it will (finally) be finished.

Part 1 - The Great Beyond

Bob leaned back in his chair and stretched. _It's so great that everything's back to normal again. I almost miss the excitement of the Web._ Very few games had dropped since the restart, rendering the adventurous guardian bored, bored, bored.

Since Dot had officially been granted the position of Command.Com, she had spent most of her waking hours at the Principal Office, having Phong show her the ropes. During his time in the Web, Bob had really missed having Dot around, and, upon returning home, had hoped to be able to spend some quality time with her. Unfortunately, her new position wasn't allowing her nearly enough free time.

Bob sighed miserably. "Well," he said out loud, standing up, "it looks like I'm going to have to go relieve her of her duties myself." That said, he grabbed the keys to his ancient red convertible (which had, quite miraculously, been running relatively well since the restart) and drove over to the Principal Office.

* * *

Around this time, Dot was beginning to look quite exasperated. "Let me get this straight," she said, rubbing her temples. "Security code 0214 activates the emergency exits and security code 3746 allows access to the core control chamber?"

"That is correct, my child," Phong said proudly, adjusting his glasses. "Before we take our break, there is one more thing you must remember."

Dot stopped massaging her aching temples and looked up, urging Phong to tell her his three hundred and forty seventh piece of advice for that day.

Phong wanly smiled. "You must always know when to take a break." At Dot's eye-roll and exasperated sigh, the old Sprite added, "You're dismissed. Be back at 20:00 hours."

Relief washed over Dot's face as she smiled for the second time that day. "Thank you, Phong," she said gratefully, and left Phong's office.

A myriad thoughts found their way into her semi-active mind as she almost mechanically made her way to her own office. Her life sure had been complicated lately. First there had been the Web War, in which she had lost Bob, then that fateful game in which she lost Enzo, AndrAIa, and Frisket. She had come very close to _completely_ losing it when the remaining Mainframers had lost the Principal Office to Megabyte, Phong with it. Dot had been shocked beyond belief when, holding onto the precious remaining threads of her sanity, she had witnessed the surprise reappearance of Bob, along with Enzo, AndrAIa, and Frisket, who had been game hopping. This emotional roller coaster had taken quite a toll on Dot, its aftermath causing her to sleep for days on end, only waking to eat. She had to admit that it was great having everything back to normal again, and finally telling Bob her true feelings for him had taken a lot off her conscience.

She stopped, suddenly realizing that she had reached her office. The door opened automatically, its rather handy pre-programmed greeting. It was only after the door slid shut behind her that she noticed Bob sitting in her chair, hands behind his head, and feet resting comfortably on her desk blotter. He grinned cheerily and said, "Hi there."

Dot shook her head in amazement. "I should have known," she mused, walking over to Bob and giving him a quick hug.

"Miss me?" Bob asked slyly, holding up a bottle of Advil. At Dot's grateful look, he added, "I know how tedious Phong's lessons can be. I remember them well."

Downing two of the pinkish tablets with a swig of energy from her desk, Dot said, "I have a few milliseconds to spare. Want to go for a walk? I'm supposed to meet Matrix and AndrAIa at Kits in a little while."

Bob was instantly curious. "What for?"

"Oh, nothing much. I figured I should relieve them both of Enzo for a while. I know what a Matrix temper is like, and if I know my brothers like I think I do..." her voice trailed off. Bob nodded, understanding instantly.

Dot grabbed her organizer from her desk, clipped it to her belt, and the pair headed for Kits.

* * *

"Hey, look!" little Enzo cried, pointing off towards the center of the city, "Bob and Dot are coming this way!" And then, before either Matrix or AndrAIa could stop him, he set off like a bullet, a green, blue, white, and red blur of motion, heading right for Bob. "BOB!" he shouted, doing his typical Enzo-style bowl-over that had become his trademark.

The guardian smiled a little pitifully, and Enzo allowed him to get up. Bob did so, brushing himself off once he got to his feet.

"Super cool," Enzo exclaimed, seeing Dot. "Bob, how'd you do it? Dot never gets away from her work unless you make her do it. What's your secret?"

Bob laughed. "No secret Enzo. Phong was giving your sister a headache. You remember his _lectures_, don't you?" Bob said, narrowing his eyes and grinning just enough to make him look evil.

Enzo shuddered, nodding his head vigorously. "Aw, man!" Enzo said, grimacing. "Don't remind me! That old dude's got too much free time on his hands."

"Tell me about it," Dot said, grimacing a little herself. "But he's got good intentions. I'm sure my having to memorize every code and every safety procedure will come in handy someday. So, little brother, what's processing?"

As if to punctuate Dot's statement, the system's voice, more commonly referred to as 'The Voice of Doom' reverberated down upon the system, as the sky started to glow a menacing purple that could only mean one thing: WARNING -- INCOMING GAME

AndrAIa rolled her eyes and groaned. "Well, looks like it's back to the old grind."

Bob ignored her and exclaimed, "Yes! Finally, some excitement!" Everyone else just shook their heads and cursed that guardian programming. After all, guardians did have a tendency to live for danger. All five of them shivered as the tingly energy of the game surface washed over them, a feeling that was all too familiar to each and every one of them.

As the game hit the ground with an earth-shattering crash, each member of the little party surveyed their surroundings. They were standing in the middle of a very large open plane, that, judging by the dry ground and spattering of odd-looking trees, could only be the African Serengeti. The heat from the sun was intense, and each member of the group was definitely feeling it. The soil under their feet was extremely dry and cracked, from way too much exposure to the extremely hot sun. Oddly-shaped trees, which reached their spindly branches up into the heavens, were scattered and few. A lion could be seen trying to find some water in the distance, and big ugly birds could be seen circling above the poor creature, which looked like it was about ready to drop from fatigue.

Tearing their eyes away from the sad sight, Bob and company double-clicked their icons and ReBooted. When the green pillars of light that had washed over them, initiating the ReBoot, disappeared, the Sprites were dressed very similarly. All of them were wearing slightly different renditions of safari uniforms, and Dot was unsettled to see that Bob, Matrix, and herself were armed with rifles. AndrAIa and Enzo had, respectively, lethal-looking knives, and binoculars. Each member of the team was equipped with a minute microphone and earpiece set.

There was a brief silence as Bob called upon his Glitch powers and analyzed the game. "We're in a game called 'African Safari.' According to my sensors, a mysterious creature has appeared on these plains, the Serengeti. Our job is to hunt it down and kill it before it does the same to us. It's bloodthirsty and extremely dangerous. We are to use extreme caution."

Silence followed this shocking revelation. "Well," Matrix finally said, "isn't that alphanumeric."

"So basically what Bob is saying is we're beast bait? Dude!" Enzo exclaimed. "This is going to be fun!"

Dot opened her mouth to protest, as everyone expected her to do. To everyone's surprise, especially her own, she said, "Never mind. I'm not even going to bother." 

"We're in trouble, aren't we?" AndrAIa asked, looking more than a little nervous.

"Big time," Bob said. "Now. Let's make a plan."

All eyes drifted to Dot, who looked rather incredulous. "What are you all looking at me for? I'm just as clueless as you all are. I think our best bet would be to split up, to narrow our chances of being caught." She paused. "What is this dangerous monster, anyway?" As if to punctuate her statement, a distant roar could be heard, echoing over the dry plains.

"This is bad," Bob said, uttering a long-forgotten phrase. "Very bad."


	2. Desperate Measures

**Hunt or Be Hunted**  
By Julia Cat

Part 2 - Desperate Measures

The long, melancholic wails of the savage creature could still be heard in the air as the small party of Sprites decided on their best option to win the game, with as few difficulties as possible. Each and every one of them knew that this was to be no ordinary game. Careful planning and cunning was their only choice in a situation such as the one in which they currently found themselves. As was expected, everyone turned to Dot for answers, though she had previously admitted that she had no idea of how they were going to evade, let alone kill, the unknown creature.

The party was now huddled under one of the spindly trees, having a discussion -- well, sort of. Not much discussion seemed to be going on between the five members of the little clan. Matrix was polishing his game-upgraded gun, smiling as he passed his fingers over its sleek surface. This was a little unsettling to Dot, who was not yet used to her bigger brother format's apparent obsession with his gun. AndrAIa was staring off into the distance, seemingly trying to devise a crude plan for survival, little Enzo was watching Matrix study his gun, Bob was trying to remember any information about this game he had heard during his time at the academy, and Dot was racking her brain, seeing if she could quickly put together one of her miraculous plans in order to quickly win the game.

The group sat in silence, each member tending to his or her tasks, for several microseconds. Dot and AndrAIa both seemed unable to think of anything that didn't involve endangering a member of their group. The silence was suddenly broken by little Enzo, as he got a brainstorm of his own. "Dude!" he exclaimed, "That's perfect!"

AndrAIa snapped out of her reverie and voiced everyone's thoughts, "What's perfect, Enzo?"

Enzo grinned slyly. He seemed proud that he had thought of an ingenious plan before anyone else, especially his sister, the master of such plans. He cleared his throat, and said, in a rather authoritative tone, "How about we make as much noise as possible, getting the monster's attention, then we kill it when it comes running?" At everyone's incredulous gaze, Enzo smiled sheepishly. "Well, maybe it isn't such a good plan, now that I think about it. It can be changed... right?" After receiving prolonged stares, Enzo's face fell and he muttered, "Or not."

Dot tried to soften the blow by attempting to console her brother. "It was a valiant effort, Enzo," she said carefully, "but it would just be too risky in this game. Too much is at stake. Alright?" Enzo smiled a little, and nodded, though a little slowly.

With that, the five Sprites went back to their former states. After another few microseconds, nobody had arrived at a solution to their pending problem. Matrix had finished admiring his gun and was now devising a plan which involved mass slaughter of the mysterious creature. A sigh from Bob interrupted the silence. "Well, gang," he said, resigned, "it seems like we may have to resort to desperate measures." He was rewarded with questioning looks from his companions and decided to elaborate, "In cases like these," he said, speaking with difficulty, for he did not like what he was about to say, "sometimes the best way to proceed is to follow our instincts and do what we think is best, no matter how risky." At Enzo's hopeful look, Bob shook his head, and the boy's face fell. "However," Bob added, "there are limits. I suggest we split up into two groups and search on foot for the creature. We have our communicators, which will help in our search, but I can tell you now, this will not be easy."

As the party members nodded, Matrix picked up Bob's plan. "As far as strategy goes," he said, "I don't think we should attack the creature as soon as we see it. This goes against everything I've lived for in the games, but, I think I speak for everyone here when I say that I don't want any of us to get hurt. We have to track it somehow... but we can't give ourselves away."

"But Enzo," Dot said, instantly remembering the renegade's preferred name. "Sorry. Matrix. Don't you think you're getting ahead of yourself? This Serengeti thing of yours is huge! How would we know where to start? Remember, we don't know anything about this creature, let alone how to trap it. We would have to know what it eats, when it's awake, what its hunting habits are, and so much more just to know how to approach it."

Here AndrAIa piped up. "Hold on a second, Dot. I remember all the survival skills needed in a game like this. In fact, if you remember, I used to live in a game where survival was a key factor. It's what I lived for. I happen to know for a fact that all carnivorous predators have weaknesses, just like we do. They all like to surprise their prey, which is pretty obvious. You don't see a lion, for instance, approaching its prey from the front, in full view, do you? We're going to have to pay very close attention to what's going on around us. Remember that my hearing is superior to anyone else's--" 

AndrAIa's lecture was interrupted by a low growl that sounded like it was disturbingly close by. Matrix instantly whipped out his gun, and Bob did the same. Little Enzo, however, smiled as his teammates donned defensive positions. He knew that growl.

Dot jumped as a big red and yellow dog leapt out from behind a nearby tree and trotted over the group of Sprites. "Frisket!" Enzo exclaimed, as he was tackled by the oversized canine. "Where did you come, from, boy? You're a good dog, Frisket! You can really help us out in this game. You knew that, didn't you? Here, let me help you ReBoot!" The boy clicked the dog's icon, that Frisket was immediately transformed into a very savage-looking black beast with long, sharp teeth and a big strong torso.

The rest of the group recovered from the scare and were just as grateful as Enzo for the arrival of the loyal dog. The Sprites continued their conversation, with Frisket on the lookout for wild creatures, and soon they agreed to split up into two teams, little Enzo, AndrAIa and Frisket on one team, and Bob, Dot and Matrix on the other. Once both teams were ready, they wished each other luck and set out on their dangerous trek across the Serengeti, even though no one knew what awaited them. As long as Frisket was there, though, they felt a little more confident.

* * *

In a low thicket, a few dozen meters away from the meeting place, a pair of amber eyes watched as the two teams set off in their respective directions. The beast now realized it had new prey, yet it knew it had to approach the dog's team with caution. In a rather cowardly attempt to keep its own life, it kept a low profile and slowly followed the other team, hoping to catch them off-guard.

* * *

As the second crawled by, the sun seemed to get hotter, and to Matrix, who felt particularly uneasy, it proved to be a problem. Though he was a fairly big Sprite, he felt the heat more than either of his companions, and he realized that if they were to be confronted by the beast, he would be at a disadvantage, for he was getting weak.

The three had been walking for what had seemed like milliseconds, carefully taking in their surroundings as they made their way across the vast savannah. Finally, they came to an oasis where Dot filled her water skin, and the trio sunk down by the pool of azure water for a rest. They hadn't gotten any messages from the other team, which was both unsettling and gratifying. 

Suddenly, Bob felt the hairs on the back of his neck prick up and he felt an uneasy feeling wash over him. Before he could warn his companions, a flash of gold and black pounced into the center of the group and began advancing on Dot. The three travelers were paralyzed with fear. This was no ordinary creature. It was about three times Frisket's size with golden fur with black marks no one had ever seen before. It was crouched low, in a stalking position. It was very much like a cat, but not at the same time. If asked to describe the creature afterwards, neither Sprite would have been able to. Its big amber eyes narrowed as it continued to approach Dot. In the blink of an eye, it pounced, and Dot screamed.

_To be continued..._


End file.
